Lyric Opera revenue, ticket sales fall

The market hasn't been good to the Lyric Opera of Chicago, according to the latest financials that show a significant drop in revenue due to a decline in its investment portfolio as well as declines in ticket sales and fundraising for the reporting year ended June 30.

The financial information was posted on the Lyric's website today. In previous years, the opera company has released its financials in June even though it didn't have a full financial, audited report. By releasing the information now, the Lyric says it can offer a complete report of the numbers.

The numbers released today show revenue was $86.7 million, down from $114.7 million the previous year. The reason for the 32 percent drop is the Lyric's investment portfolio, which saw a 2.3 percent return ($4.4 million) this year compared with 17.4 percent ($27.9 million) last year.

The previous year was a remarkable one, sadi Lyric CFO Roberta Lane, adding, “According to our investment policy, we have an expectation that over the long run, our average rate of return will be 8 percent, though on any given year it will go up or down."

"The drop in investment returns is something that we are all experiencing. And its particularly hardest on those organizations in our sector that rely on the returns from their endowments to fund part of their operations," said Eric Weinheimer, president and CEO of Forefront (previously Donors Forum), an umbrella association for nonprofits.

Ticket sales at Lyric for 2015 were $25.8 million, down 11 percent from $28.8 million the previous year. The opera house couldn't immediately answer the reason for the drop. This year's 69 performances (up from last year's 67) included productions of Mozart's “Don Giovanni,” Donizetti's “Anna Bolena,” Puccini's “Tosca” and “Carousel,” which was acclaimed as being the finest so far of the company's American Musical Theater Initiative. Last year, the Lyric presented “The Sound of Music” as part of that pop-culture programming designed to bring in new audiences.

Revenue from fundraising was $53.4 million for 2015, down slightly from $54.5 million in 2014. The opera company's endowment was $181 million, compared to $183.7 million in 2014.

There was a bright spot: The popular wine auction held once over three years netted $1.8 million, compared to $1.1 million in 2012.

Along with an uncooperative market, the Lyric faced other challenges as well. Its president and CEO, Ken Pigott, died in February.